The Preservation of “The Olive Branch”

“This book is quite remarkable. It does not just defy genre, it almost defies definition... It goes way beyond being a novel and enters the realms of asking what a novel is. What fiction is. What creativity is. It is deep and it requires a lot from a reader. But then it required a lot from the author.”His novel was called “The Olive Branch”. It was a sort of futuristic Cold War thriller. He had written it more than three decades ago when he was a young Turk, full of ambitions and principles and politics. But, like many a first novel, the manuscript had been abandoned, left to gather dust. Until now. Now he has time on his hands. He’ll tidy up the manuscript and save it on his computer. He’ll preserve it. But only for the sake of posterity, he argues. Not because it’s any good. Or so he thinks.When he begins the process of preserving “The Olive Branch”, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery, a journey of revelations. Revelations about the young idealist he once was. Revelations about the man he had turned into; his failings, his prejudices, his demons. But, crucially, revelations about what might have been.“The honesty and humility with which Gisby writes is quite unique and deeply moving.”“The novel reminded me of the movie, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which screenwriter Charlie Kaufman used non-linear narration to look at the nature of memory. Gisby does something similar here. He gives us magic spectacles with which to view the unfolding of a life; a 3D image, if you will.”“You could consider this book quixotic, given its two entirely different levels of storyline, but I actually found it extremely seductive.”“What makes this book so fascinating and so important is that this is the way we experience life: the warp of life and the woof of memory, interwoven into our daily lives.”

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Reviews

Tim Roux, Publisher and Author (UK)

Brendan Gisby's writing has an effortless grace to it. His The Bookie's Runner is one of my favourite books ever, and The Island of Whispers is a fascinating read too.

This has a very different tone again, showing what an extremely versatile writer he is. More importantly in this case, it shows who he is as a writer.

I am guessing that 'The Olive Branch' was a real novel that he chose to revive using the conceit of his older self reviewing his younger self's work and making critical assessments - exactly as it appears in the book.

The underlying story - 'The Olive Branch' - is a powerful thriller about the invasion of Britain (specifically Scotland here) by troops from a Sino-Russian alliance as seen from the point of view of the growing British underground resistance. It is credible, lively and in places horrifying.

The comments built around this story tell us how it was constructed, giving us insights into the background to why it was written, and explaining the extent to which real people were used as models for the characters and so on.

As an author myself, it was intriguing to compare notes with how Brendan approaches these issues, assuming he was genuinely describing his own techniques.

You could consider The Preservation of The Olive Branch quixotic, given its two entirely different levels of storyline, but I actually found it extremely seductive, as have others I know to have read it.

Go for it. It's a wonderful read.

George Polley, Author (Japan)

In 1975, the Soviet Union and Communist China lay aside their differences and form an alliance. Their goal: to take over all of Europe and England. By early summer, 1980, "the combined Communist forces are poised for the initial assault." From there, the action begins, and it is full-scale war, with all the explosiveness, viciousness and suspense that one expects, especially after an active Resistance movement is organized. Some of the scenes are gut-wrenching.

But the war story isn't the only story. The other story, the underlying story, is that of the author himself, who discovers the manuscript in an old box file he hasn't opened in thirty years, and comments on his novel and his editing of it between each chapter. As an author myself, as well as a devourer of books, I found this fascinating, almost like reading a second novel, one the "warp" and the other the "woof" of the whole.

What makes this so fascinating and so important is that this is the way we experience life, the warp of life and the woof of memory, interwoven into our daily lives.

My hat is off to Brendan Gisby, the author of several wonderful books, of which this is the latest. You have a gem here, Mr. Gisby.

Diane Nelson, Author and Publisher (USA)

Have you ever been gobsmacked by a book?

Admittedly, as an author, I was intrigued by the premise: Duncan Sinclair wrote a book--the novel everyone has in them--that was criticized (by a friend, we call them beta readers nowadays), rejected and set aside for more than thirty years. Life interfered. Now Duncan is retired, with time on his hands and what better way to fill those hours than to tidy-up what had obviously been a failure into something worth salvaging. Duncan will take those old typewritten and hand-written pages, get the words onto his laptop, edit a bit (he calls it 'soft edit') and hopefully at the end it will be a legacy of adequacy

A legacy of adequacy...

The book is called 'The Olive Branch'. The author-as-young-man is your traditional young turk, ideologically naïve, easily impressed and sufficiently committed to his beliefs to make a statement. And what better way than to write the novel that would, as he put it, 'shatter the apathy'. To young Duncan, the Sino-Soviet threat was real, as real as the headlines.

It begins with a newspaper story, then translates to an 'intelligence report'. It sets the premise, allocates credibility. Duncan has a plot, or nearly so.

The words on the page are like a screen-capture of Duncan as the young man. Sinclair-the-elder (and yes this will seem like whiplash, or at the very least like watching a tennis match ... bear with me) filters those words, that memory, and presents it, softly edited, to a far more critical eye ... his own.The phrasing, juxtaposition of words, the 'excesses' of his prose annoy and embarrass Duncan-the-critic. The beginning of the novel fails the precepts of the craft as he now understands it. Duncan-the-younger was naïve, untutored, given to melodrama. His main character appears poorly drawn, inappropriate. But it didn't seem a total loss and perhaps he was too hard on himself.

After all, he was young back then, so very young. And opinionated.

It's a bit like your high school English lit class. Getting into the mind of the author, asking the questions your teacher deems important, then as time goes on you become fascinated with the answers, the insights. Insights that sometimes say more about you than about the author. Now do that one step removed, eavesdropping on a private conversation, sans grading and a report at the end. Become a voyeur in the mind of a man rediscovering not just who he was then but who his characters are, why they are important, why he should care ... now.

This is frustrating. I want to lay it all out so that you can see the exquisite interweaving of layers of stories. On the surface it appears as two concurrent narratives: the younger Sinclair's tale of invasion, heroism and sacrifice; the older Sinclair's 'director's cut', a voiceover that critiques, explains and anticipates.

But there is more, so very much more. This novel reminded me of the movie, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman used nonlinear narration to look at the nature of memory. Author Brendan Gisby does something similar here. He gives us magic spectacles with which to view the unfolding of a life, a 3D image if you will, but close one eye and you have the narration-as-life-remembered, close the other and you have multiple paths of discovery.

Perception, awareness, anticipation, empathy ... you feel all these when viewed through the eyes of the elder Sinclair. The author(s)--Gisby, Sinclair-- set you up to travel that road. Comfortably and securely. But what you never see coming, not really, is the story itself and the impact it will have on you, on its own merits.

Make no mistake, the author pulls no punches. There are elements to 'The Olive Branch' that are beautiful, lyrical, sensual, brutal, gut-wrenching, terrifying and profoundly observant of the human condition. And as if that weren't enough, author Brendan Gisby, with a masterful hand, ramps up the emotional impact with subtle cues you will barely notice, if at all.

All novels are covenants between the reader and the author. This one was an offer I couldn't refuse. Because Gisby put me inside that novel, made me a part of the process, gave me an acute awareness of the multiple journeys: his own, the younger and older Sinclair, the protagonist, young Jeff Wheeler, and very worthy secondary characters and antagonists.

This is truly a work of literary fiction. It is a book you will come back to time and again, to savor the language, to seek out and find those passages that reveal the hooks, to look at the story with fresh perception, and to discover how a legacy of adequacy elevated a work to the level of extraordinary.

This novel made me think. It made me ask, "How did he do that?" And then it made me say, "Wow."

For your Kindle, for your bookshelf: The Preservation of The Olive Branch deserves a permanent place in your library.